the breakdown

an analysis i wrote, read it and love it.
Coach Carter is a movie based upon actual events, which relays a message of respect, hard work and commitment to the youth in America. In the late 1990's, Ken Carter takes an offer to become the new lead coach at Richmond High School. Growing in this same neighborhood, Carter takes it upon himself to instill upon the young men of his team some new found values. Coach uses tough love and a strict routine to whip these players minds and bodies into shape. I think this movie says something about our school systems, by the way it shows the horrible beginnings, the uphill struggle to reconstruction, and the pay off.
After watching Coach Carter, I have decided first impressions are not always correct. On the first day alone, the boys are bickering and making fun of the new coach. One boy, Timo Cruz, is kicked off the team for taking a shot at coach. Of course, no one thinks that the coach has any shot of turning this team around. When the story began to unravel, I saw that these boys were being raised in a harsh world with basketball as a shot out. Carter continues pushing the boys, signing contracts that stated they would wear ties on game days and sit at the front of all their class. Players were not allowed to participate, if they could not maintain a GPA of at least a 2.0. This contract was enforced when, coach discovered one-fourth of the team was failing and locked the team out of the gym. Ken Carter used extreme tactics to shape a young group of boys into a group of mature and victorious men.
The Richmond team may have pulled off a good season, but it was no piece of cake getting there. Later in the movie, Carter discovers Cruz has a second life as a drug dealer and seeks basketball as a way away from this darker life. After enforcing the minimum GPA contract agreement, he deducts that Junior Battle has severe literacy issues and needs some extra help. Carter saw no point in the sport, if the boys have no other support system built up to fall back on. Not all the surprises were drugs and grades slipping through the cracks. Star student and player, Kenyon Stone discoveries his girlfriend is pregnant and becomes unsure what the future may hold for him. The stories may seem sad, but as in all the classic underdog movies there is redemption.
Now we come to the point in the movie, when all the players have become the men they need to be, the only obstacles left are media influences and the state championship. Parents and other school officials did not agree with Carter on the way he conducted his team. The teams arrives to the state championship nervous and seemingly unsure of their capabilities. It is drawn out game and not a defined winner, until the end. Richmond is defeated. In the end, the Richmond oilers did not win the state championship. They won way more than a silly trophy.
In conclusion, this movie touches a crucial issue among schools across the nation. It points out the decreasing number of graduating students and the rising numbers of those minorities ending up in prison. Coach Carter does its job, as a campaign for "being the best you can be" and putting the spotlight on American school systems. Speaking for a education activist, I hope people get what this move is really about and it is not basketball.